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Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly: Prologue

After some deliberation, I decided to give into curiousity and start on Psychdelica of the Black Butterfly. I had play once through to figure out how to organise my posts. ;; In any case, let me get the prologue out first.

The game starts off with flashes of different scenes: a bus, the rain, the lobby of a run-down mansion. Inside the bus, two muffled voices can be heard. The conversation grows more agitated, before the bus crashes. (Note: Later in the game, we will go through this scene in more details so don’t worry about the conversation.)

The heroine finds herself falling in darkness, as if she’s submerged in water. Her senses are numbed, and the past and present in her hands slowly melt into one. In an attempt to understand her current situation, she slowly opens her eyes. But it’s all darkness. It’s as if she has become one with the world. She tries to explore it, and she can’t tell if she’s drowning in the sky or flying in the sea. But she feels like a dancing butterfly. She closes her eyes again, and relaxes herself. Abandoning all thoughts and feelings, the girl continues to fall defenselessly. She feels as though an eternity has passed, when suddenly she senses a glaring light. Her fingertips touch the bottom of the waters, and she wakes up gasping.

She finds herself lying on the floor of the lobby of a grand-looking mansion. But she’s unable to recall anything, not even who she is. Hoping to seek an answer, she steps forward towards the staircase. Just then, she hears someone crying. She spots a young girl dressed in a sailor uniform behind a pillar. She asks if she’s feeling unwell, but is taken aback when she sees the young girl wearing a frightening goat mask. Soon, a piercing scream is heard as she’s enveloped by a black mist and even the masked girl’s skin changes colour. Our heroine can only stare in fear, as the girl changes into a monster. Moreover, the monster reaches out to her. She quickly dashes away, unable to accept that this is reality.

As she’s dashing down a corridor, she’s suddenly grabbed by someone who covers her mouth. The voice of a young man tells her that the monsters have weak eyesight, so it should bypass them. Indeed, it’s just as he said as the monster doesn’t notice them. When they’re finally alone, she recounts her experience just now but he tells her to calm down first. The monster may return so they should move elsewhere. The man with two moles leads her to another place, which he believes is fine as they can escape immediately if anything happens. She discovers that he too woke up in this mansion without any memories.

With no clues or leads, the man searches himself. She does so too, and finds a mobile phone. The first thing that appears on the screen is the time, 89:74. It makes no sense, and she goes on to find a single text message: Search for the kaleidoscope pieces. Oddly, there is no sender name. The man also finds a mobile phone with a single message: There is only one way out of the mansion. It appears that the mystery sender could be responsible for their current plight, and she wonders if they’re being watched. A distant roar is heard, so he says that they need to escape soon. She recalls that she woke up near the entrance, and brings him there.

Unfortunately, the entrance door doesn’t budge and it appears that they’ve been locked in. The girl gazes at the door, and black butterflies catches her sight. As they fade away, the man snaps at her. They’re being surrounded by two monsters, and have nowhere to run. One of them lunges at her, and she screams in fear, unable to dodge. However, she is unhurt and the man protects her. His arm is bleeding though, and he shouts at her not to space out. She can only apologise. As they’re about to be attacked again, an earth-shattering cry is heard and the monster disperses into black smoke. It changes into a swarm of black butterflies, which are sucked into someone’s necklace. She gazes up to see a man wearing a fox mask standing at the top of the stairs. He uses his gun to shoot at the other monster, and once more it transforms into black butterflies which are absorbed into his necklace.

The masked man studies his pendant, before walking away. She quickly calls out to him, but she is hushed by the other to not speak to such a suspicious-looking person. The man in the mask turns towards them, but soon loses interest and disappears from sight. The dark-haired man sighs at her recklessness, but she points out that they were saved by him. Her attention is brought back to his wound. He admits that it hurts, but right now they need to focus on getting out. He heads back to the door, while she spots a glass shard on the floor. Slipping it into her pocket, she then sees him trying to break their way out by ramming himself against the door. She tells him to stop, for it will just hurt his other arm. Plus the loud noise could attract the monsters. The man accepts her point, and they study the entrance. The fact that it doesn’t budge—means that someone is blocking it from outside.

Their sentence is finished by a kind-looking man. As our heroine starts to question him, she is pulled back by her companion who once again warns her not to trust others so easily. But to her, he has a softer aura to him. The man with two moles clearly states that they can’t trust the tall newcomer, who explains his situation – which is the same as theirs. He eventually joins them, while remarking if he has seen her somewhere. The dark-haired man tells him to choose a better time and place if he wants to hit on her. In any case, the tall, droopy-eyed man offers to lead them to a hideout he’s found where monsters won’t come. Though they can’t fully trust him, our heroine notes that they need to treat the other man’s injury.

The hideout turns out to be a warm-looking place with lots of retro furniture. Just then, the sight of white butterflies catches her attention. As they disappear, the taller man brings out a first-aid kit and decides that girls should be better at treating injuries. She does so, but the patient observes her tearing up. If she is scared of blood, then she shouldn’t have offered to do this. The girl didn’t even realise that she was crying, and quickly apologises. It was just that their current situation finally occurred to her, and that she was really in life-threatening danger. She thanks him for saving her, and he replies that it would only haunt him if he left her to die. A sense of guilt and fear bubble inside of her. She can’t stand the thought of someone getting hurt ‘cos of her – as though something invisible is blaming her for even being alive.

The dark-haired man asks when he discovered this place, and the latter answers that he found it on the day he first woke up. A few days ago, he’d regained consciousness and searched around to see if there was anyone else. After she treats the wound, the droopy-eyed man serves tea. He tells them that there are several guestrooms on the 2nd floor too. Everything from water, electricity and daily supplies seem to be available for them. He adds that he’d observed that the monsters don’t go close to areas where there are white butterflies – and this is one such place. However they can’t remain cooped up here, and the man with two moles suggests trying to break the windows. The taller companion states that he’s tried doing that though, but to no avail. The fog outside doesn’t seem to clear up at all either.

The two of them also confirm if he too received a message on his mobile phone. He shows them his message from the unknown sender: The weapon is in your hands. They also reveal their messages, and guess that the kaleidoscope must be of significance to the person and that they are supposed to help. But the rest remains a mystery. Silence falls, as the three of them can only stare at the mobile phones. The girl then hears distance voices, and soon makes it out as someone being attacked by a monster. Instinctively, she grabs a nearby vase but the dark-haired man calls her out for being foolish. She apologises, for she can’t ignore the situation, before running out.

Meanwhile, a blonde man with piercings and a white-haired man with sanpaku gan are being attacked. The former wonders if there is a hidden camera filming them, as he weakly commends on the fantastic make-up job. The latter is clearly irritated, and tells him to shut up. Some distance away, the girl sees that they’re being encircled by three monsters. The dark-haired man catches up with her. It’s a similar situation to before, and there’s no way for them to help out. The two men are soon cornered, as they realise the reality. The blonde man offers the other as a sacrifice, which provokes a rebuttal from the white-haired man. At that moment, they barely dodge an attack.

The girl wishes that she had a weapon like the masked man – something like a gun. As if her strong desire was being responded, a gun appears in her hands out of the blue. Her companion is taken aback, just as much as she is. When she explains her thought process, he realises that this is what the message meant. He imagines a gun too, and one materialises in his hands. With this, they confront the monsters and succeed. The monsters dissolve into black butterflies which are sucked into both of their accessories. As she observes them being absorbed into her hairpin, she feels breathless and her body is heavy. The two men are saved, but aren’t so trustful of them. The man with two moles agree, and remarks that there was no merit in interfering. The blonde man sees that they should be grateful that they’re still alive, though the white-haired man remains tight-lipped. The former comments on how pitiful he is to not be able to thank a girl who risked her life for them, which once again agitates him.

The guns in their hands disperse into thin air. They then move back to the hideout to avoid further danger. The droopy-eyed man is relieved that they’re safe, and notes the newcomers. Everyone sits down, and they soon learn that the two men woke up in the same room with no recollection of anything. And when they left the room, they were chased after the monsters. While the ridiculous situation and coincidence is unbelievable, the facts remain. Everyone goes quiet, till a beeping sound is heard. The two newcomers find their mobile phones, and the following messages from the unknown sender: The key to your memories is within the mansion. Finish the kaleidoscope. Once more, the kaleidoscope is mentioned.

Each of them try to piece the puzzle together – someone with ill intent has put them in this situation, keeping their memories and freedom as hostage so that they will help to complete the kaleidoscope. The atmosphere takes a turn for the worse, and the girl tries to brighten it by asking if they can think of everyone here as comrades. After all, it’s a step forward to have one another compared to “nothing”. So they should cooperate with each other to escape. The tall man approves, for it’s better help one another out. It also feels comforting to know that. One by one, the rest agree and nod at her words. After a while, the man with piercings remark that he’s tired. They can’t tell what time it is due to the weird time displayed on their phones, and it’s still dark outside due to the fog.

The droopy-eyed man leads them to the floor upstairs, where they find the guestrooms. They are impressed with the room interior. The white-haired man says that he’ll stay on guard just in case. While our heroine is worried, the tall man reassures her that he’ll exchange shifts. As she’s about to volunteer for tomorrow’s shift, the blonde man interrupts them. It would be inconvenient if they can’t address each other by name. But the problem is they don’t remember. The dark-haired man proposes that they use the names of their guestrooms as their own name. In that case, his will be Hikage. The man with piercings spontaneously claims the name Karasuba, while the white-haired man goes with Yamato. The droopy-eyed man points out that the girl should use the name Beniyuri, while he’ll take the one next to her, Kagiha.

With their names finally confirmed, all of them retire to their rooms except for Hikage. Beniyuri observes that there are white butterflies in her room too, and wonders what they’re being drawn to. She recalls her recent confrontation with the monsters, and the sight of the black butterflies being absorbed into her hairpin. She removes it from her hair, and sees that it is the shape of a colourful butterfly. Since it sucked in the butterflies which supposedly bring misfortune, it probably can be considered as a protective charm.

Soon, heavy raindrops can be heard outside. She starts to feel cold, and curls up in her bed. But her body remains cold, numbing all the way to her fingertips. It’s a familiar feeling, and she wonders what memory it’s from. But her mind can’t recall anything, and she feels herself falling once more. This time, she could be sinking into a dark void. And Beniyuri soon falls asleep.

Comments

In case you’re thinking what in the world is going on? / Is this going to be another Shiratsuyu horror?! Don’t worry, it gets great later on. As to what to expect next, I’ll be trying to do a common route post and a post containing all the short episodes. If I could I wouldn’t do the latter lazy but since some need to be read in order to progress with the main story, might as well do them all. Again, no guarantee when those will be up. But I’ll do my best…

By the way, there’s no official banner for my fox mask guy so I’m using the twitter icon for now. Or am I blind? )’: